Ever since purchasing an Acer Chromebook 15 over a year ago, I’ve been smitten with it. The low power consumption, ease of use, and mobility of it makes it a dream come true for a writer like me, but is a Chromebook for everyone? In a word: No.

There is a time and a place for a Chromebook. If you have a family member or friend considering buying one, or you yourself are contemplating whether it would be a good laptop replacement, there are a few things you should consider first.

Do You Spend Most Of Your Time Online?

Consider the fact that as of 2015, according to the International Telecommunication Union, a whopping 43% of the global population uses the Internet. That’s up from 18% ten years earlier.

It would make no sense at all, especially when there are options for powerful, convenient, and very mobile “laptops” that happen to be loaded with Chrome OS and have everything people need, who only browse the web and check email every day. There are Chromebooks that would look, feel, and perform just like any laptop most people are accustomed to using, without the sky-high price tag to match.

For these people, anything beyond the $100 to $250 that a Chromebook would cost is just a waste of money. This is the ideal group for a Chromebook, and if you or anyone who you’re helping to make a decision matches the description of this group, then a Chromebook is really the only way to go.

I say may not, because there actually are many great cloud-based alternatives to most of the desktop apps you may be used to using, but if you’re married to any of those apps and can’t imagine your life without them, then a Chromebook won’t work for you. You may be better suited to another sort of laptopBest Laptops for School by Major in 2016Best Laptops for School by Major in 2016What are the best laptops for school? It depends on the student's academic focus. Engineering majors don't need the same laptop as liberal arts majors. Here's what you need.Read More.

Here are some examples of replacements for some of the most common PC applications people often point to as a reason for not using a Chromebook.

Microsoft Office

Depending which Office app you use and why you like using them, you may or may not find a good replacement when you use a Chromebook.

As you can see the menu and ribbon bars look almost the same. For basic word processing and editing, it’ll be everything you could ever hope for in a word processor, but if you’re used to using some of the more advanced menus like mail or reference features, those are missing and you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Google Docs is a little deceptive, because at first glance it looks painfully simple, lackluster, and featureless.

The reality is quite the opposite. Most of the meatier features are hidden away in all of the menus.

You can insert charts, advanced equations, linking, images, many text formatting options and more. Personally, if I were looking for the perfect online replacement for Microsoft Word, Google Docs would be it.

It is chock-full of features, the ability to filter, set out-of-office replies, automate emails and much more.

If you’re hoping to migrate to a Chromebook and you’ve been a heavy Outlook user for quite a while, then you’ve got some decisions to make.

Have you been archiving emails on your hard drive, or do you delete most of your incoming emails after responding?

Do you have a lot of subfolders set up on Outlook?

How important is it for you to be able to access your email from anywhere?

Your answers to #1 and #2 will determine how complicated it’ll be for you to migrate to an online solution so you can use a Chromebook. Your answer to #3 should actually decide whether you should adopt an online email account or not.

Why is that? Because if you want the ability to access your email from anywhere, then why stay stuck to a desktop email client, right?

When I first started using Gmail, I was actually pretty surprised at the simplicity, but as you can see a lot of that is actually due to a layout that is nothing like Microsoft products. For example you can see above that the email compose window actually has the formatting menu bar all at the bottom of the window instead of the top.

The difficulty, if you need to switch from a desktop email client like Outlook to a web client like Gmail, will be migrating the many stored emails or folders that I referenced in questions #1 and #2 above.

Nearly all Chromebooks do not come with a DVD-Drive for software installation.

Most Chromebooks don’t have a significant internal hard drive to speak of, so no place to install software.

The hardware on Chromebooks is usually just enough to appeal to casual Internet users, but not for gamers.

The inability to install local hardware cancels out the possibility of running any desktop-based games on a Chromebook. Web-based games are a possibility, and the only limit there will be the limitation of your graphics card. If you bought something like a nice ASUS Chromebook with an HD display, you may be perfectly happy playing online games.

Of course that Chromebook will cost you just under $300. If you’re hoping to buy a Chromebook for well under $200, you can forget about doing any kind of significant gaming on it.

Are You Comfortable With Cloud Storage?

Another element of Chromebook use you should consider before opting for one is whether you are able to adopt to the Chromebook method of saving files.

If you’ve used a regular PC for years, then you’re probably accustomed to having lots of space on the local hard drive to store files to your heart’s content. And more recently, you’ve even been able to map your cloud storage drives right to your computer. Services like Dropbox, OneDrive and even Google Drive offer PC apps that let you view those web storage accounts like they are directories, accessible from right inside of Windows File Explorer.

What’s the difference when you buy a Chromebook?

Basically it’ll be like you only have those cloud-based directories to save your files to. There is only a very tiny amount of space for local storage of files (and these local files could be deleted automatically to improve performance).

Accessing services like Google Drive from your Chromebook is actually designed to feel just like you’re saving files to a regular directory on your computer, but it’s all stored on your cloud storage accounts.

The good news is that if you still want to save things locally, you can plug in a USB memory stick or an external USB hard drive, and save your files there — Chromebook will map those local drives just like a regular computer would. But nothing much can or should be stored on the computer itself, so if you want to access those files later, you’ll need to make sure you have those devices with you.

How Much Time Do You Spend At Home?

The final issue to consider before taking the plunge to becoming a Chromebook user is just how mobile you need to be.

Many people don’t use computers much at all. They come home from work, log on to their computer just to check email and maybe surf the web and use Facebook a little, and then log off for the night. If you only have the need to do this at home and you already have a computer that suits this purpose, then “upgrading” to a Chromebook doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

So, if your old computer is running very slowly and you need to replace it, then the above scenario is a good reason to replace that computer with a Chromebook. It’ll suit your needs at a quarter of the cost of a new computer.

However, if you’re the kind of person who is always on the go, and you really need a lightweight laptop that lets you get online quickly to check email and do your work on the Internet, the Chromebook could be the perfect solution for you.

Most Chromebooks weight almost half as much as a regular laptop (many of them don’t even have a hard drive to weigh them down), they power-on much more quickly than a standard Windows or Mac laptop, and they are more secure to use in public places — if they ever get stolen, none of your files or data will ever get lost because they’re all stored in the cloud!

Consider Your Use And Choose Wisely

As you can see, there are a lot of issues to consider when you’re looking to transition to a Chromebook. Depending on how you usually use your computer, the Chromebook could be very limiting for you, or it could be a dream come true. So take the time to consider all of the issues laid out in this article, and then if you feel like it’s the right choice for you — buy that new Chromebook and enjoy it!

Are you considering buying a new Chromebook? Or did you already take the plunge? Let us know what you think about your Chromebook experience and whether it was the right decision for you, in the comments section below.

Anyone considering a laptop purchase should seriously check out Chromebooks. We just bought a second one, and finished using our aging XP desktop altogether. Fast,inexpensive, and incredible battery life.

One thing the article didn't mention is iTunes, which isn't supported by Chrome OS. I migrated my tunes to Google Play Music, which provides free space for 50,000 songs. Pretty much does everything iTunes does, plus gives access via multiple devices and can be played via Chromecast.

Those married to the Apple world may not be interested in migrating to Google.

I couldn't care less who scans my emails for I'm not doing anything that I shouldn't be....my daughter talked me into buying a Chrome book last year and I love it! I spend hour upon hour online either gaming, doing surveys or finding other ways to make money.

Even if Chromebooks are the most secure against hackers, they are 100% transparent to Google, whose revenues are 95% derived from selling user info / ads. Google scans every piece of email both directions - and for Chromebook users who also use Google Docs, every piece of data there is scanned as well. No thanks.

Nothing against Google (I use (and love using) Chrome browser and Gmail). Google is already scanning my email's. But I "spread the eggs around" by using Microsoft and myriad other vendors -- and using Google Search via StartPage.

Ryan Dube is MUO's Managing Editor. With an Electrical Engineering degree and working as an IT Programmer/Analyst, his writing focuses on life hacking and self improvement through automation. You can visit him on Twitter or his website.